Front Spring Failure
 

I'd just driven down from Coventry and upon returning to 'Ruby' after a brief rest, when I started to reverse from my drive I heard an awful bang from the front end, and after having the car recovered to my fave garage, I was told that the F/O/S spring had broken and taken a couple of other parts with it.
I'm having it repaired (reasonable at 300) but my question is......

Does this happen to 75s often and should I have both front springs replaced whilst they have it on the ramp ?

Thanks Bill

Hi Bill, it's advisable to change springs in pairs. I have had 1 spring go in 3years ownership so I wouldn't say often and it's not just our cars that suffer. There are protectors that can be fitted under the spring to prevent damage if it snaps, not sure who has them though. Lee.

Tyre protectors were on a to do list from MGR as a safety precaution.
As these:-
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MG-Rover-...sAAOSwh2xYBnPK

That is unlucky, it does happen, and as suggested not just to Rovers. Lucky that you were off the road I think.

One of the first things I bought when I got my 75 about 2 years ago - only got round to fitting them this summer though.

Simple to fit once you have the car jacked up and the wheel off about 10 mins a side.

As already mentioned - the 75's are not the only cars that suffer spring breakages.. it happens on all makes of modern cars. We just hear about it on our cars more due to the forum..

and as far as replacing in pairs.. up to you.. some say you should.. some not..

and I don't under normal circumstances.... that's just me though..

I will say that "normally" the top bearing and/or the isolator normally need changing after a spring snaps. That's what I have found when doing my cars..

Kev

Front coil springs on our cars to fail from time to time in fact in the three cars that I run I have replaced a coilspring on each one in under three years so that’s three springs in three years, so I would suggest that the fail rate is reasonable, when compared to other makes and models, however with our cars we can put tyre protectors on to protect the tyre from the coil spring snapping and popping the tyre, protectors are quite important as you don’t want a coilspring going through the car tire whilst you’re driving

I’d always recommend to replace suspension and braking components on both sides of the same axle at the same time, wherever possible. (Well that’s what I do)

Both will currently be the same age - if one has failed, it is likely that the other is in a similar condition and so could easily fail soon. In the case of springs, the constant flexing of the metal can eventually lead to fatigue, which is presumably the cause of the first failure - the other spring will be similarly fatigued. Similar arguments apply to other components such as shocks and bushes, which all wear out over time.

Additionally I suspect that the spring rate will change over time and use, so a new spring would be slightly harder than the old one - if that is the case then it would or could result in uneven handling, which would be very dangerous. This is certainly the case with shock absorbers, which lose their damping ability as they wear.
Oh and top mounts, don’t even get me started on them.. little rock side to side with the steering wheel and once they are past their best you’ll be getting knock knock who’s there? oh it’s me the top mount and I need changing

These are only my opinions based on my experience as a user of these vehicles and as a dismantler.
People are free to make their own decisions, however I would always recommend doing a job right first time rather than doing a job over and over
Mick :smiley:

Some good advise there. I personally would get them done in pairs too. Both my rear ones went last year and got them both replaced at the same time. One front end went this year which has been replaced. One more to do which I hope to get done very soon. And spring protectors is a must so get these fitted. They can be bought new from Rimmers I believe and they’re not expensive.

What exactly are these top mounts - bearings?